The robotic vacuum market is a very crowded space and dominated by iRobot’s Roomba. In 2022, the total U.S. consumer floor cleaning market grew 8 percent, while the robotic vacuum market expanded at a 56 percent rate. The robotic vacuum market is just 10 percent of the total vacuum category, with a total accessible market (TAM) of 80 million units.
Trifo Splits Off
Earlier, Trifo was spun out of a larger company, PerceptIn, that had developed highly advanced robotics. PerceptIn management split the company into two: PerceptIn would focus on robotics for business applications, Trifo would focus on consumer applications.
As a result, Trifo management decided to launch the new company at CES.
Its new robot, named Lucy, is revolutionizing the market by redesigning and redefining the home robot vacuum. Lucy integrates artificial intelligence, deep learning, home surveillance and cleaning under the hood of one 14” round robot vacuum. Using AI, she takes an analytical look at your home, builds a 3D map of her surroundings, recognizes and differentiates different rooms (i.e., bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, etc.). Lucy not only maps, understands and recognizes her environments but also uses her deep learning network to allow her to differentiate humans, pets, sounds and movement. While she is on “patrol mode” and she detects an anomaly, she will send an alert through the Trifo Home app, allowing her family to turn on her camera and audio to see inside the house.
Original Tier 1 Articles Earned at CES
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Social Media Following Increase
Articles Earned
Everyone Loves Lucy
Lucy is the next feature piece for your smart home. She is the house cleaner, security guard and smartest member of your family. She will help protect your family while simultaneously helping you to complete your daily chores. Her features include:
- 160x the suction power of other leading vacuums
- 30 minutes longer run time than other leading vacuums
- Ability to navigate, map and clean a 200m2 home
- Auto-charging capabilities; robot returns to dock without human intervention required
- Quiet suction; comparable to background conversation noise at a restaurant
- Larger dustbin storage than other leading vacuums
- Artificial intelligence to map her home and create efficient cleaning route
- Deep learning network to understand her environment
- Alexa-enabled for full smart home integration
Lucy was designed to be the smart robot that cleans. Her combination of powerful suction for cleaning, AI-powered brain for environment recognition and 3-D mapping as well as advanced surveillance capabilities are unlike any other products available. Lucy’s proprietary algorithms and software were designed in Silicon Valley with the bulk of the manufacturing split between Trifo’s Beijing and Shenzhen facilities. The leadership team’s extensive knowledge in robotics has allowed them to develop advanced products for a price that is more affordable than comparable robot vacuums.
Lucy is Trifo’s first deep learning robot, a result of the entire product team working with Lucy in their own homes, training her to recognize objects and people as well as detangle herself from obstacles. Since every home is different, the team worked with Lucy to recognize the elements that make-up a room such as a bed for a bedroom or toilet for a bathroom. She is engineered to help her family maintain peace of mind while away from home.
Cybersecurity and privacy are top priorities for Trifo. The team addressed the issue by never allowing video or audio recordings to be stored or transferred in the cloud, all content is stored on the robot’s hard drive. Bad actors are never able to access the data, eliminating consumer security concerns.
Privacy and security are top priorities for Trifo. Trifo uses AES-128 bit encryption and Transport Layer Security (TLS) to protect user’s information, securing video and audio stored on Lucy and the Trifo Home app. Additional security requirements include strict password requirements, account authentication over a secure HTTPS connection and limited login attempts over a period of time.
Lucy is all made possible by the following components:
- Artificial intelligence: Advanced simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) sensor fusion technology provides precise navigation capability to ensure accurate 3D tracking of the home environment for the most efficient cleaning route. Deep learning technology enables Lucy to do the following:
- Surveillance: Her understanding of humans and pets allow her to precisely detect familiar and unfamiliar sounds and movement for more accurate security
- Mapping: When Lucy creates the initial map of her home, she is able to identify key objects located throughout a room to understand where she is (i.e., When Lucy sees a bed, she assigns this room as the bedroom.)
- Alexa integration allows Lucy to listen to verbal commands. Users can say, “Hey Alexa, tell Trifo to clean my bedroom”
At 4000 Pa suction power, Lucy supplies 220x more powerful suction power than her predecessor and 160x more than her competitors, enabling her to clean more effectively. - Large-capacity lithium-ion battery allows for 150 minutes of cleaning time, 30 minutes longer than competing vacuums.
State of the art Time of Flight (TOF) depth sensor uses infrared lights for precise SLAM and environmental sensing to protect furniture, preventing the vacuum from becoming stuck. - 1080p HiDEF RGB camera works simultaneously with TOF sensors to provide accurate sensing and perception of the home environment.
- Durable motor and gearbox design with real-time safety monitoring to ensure the longevity of the robot.
Automatic system inspections and calibrations of software and hardware processes for identifying and calibrating sensor failures.
The Campaign
The goal of the Lucy Launch Campaign included two metrics:
- Secure media coverage in 10-12 Tier 1 media outlets
- Increase Trifo’s social media following by 50 percent
Our recommendations to launch Lucy included a combination of media pre-briefs coordinated with social media, and creative events that drew media and prospects to the Trifo booth. The company was also announcing $15 million in new funding, which despite its small size, attracted additional media interest.
The goal of our activities was to encourage influencers to witness Lucy in action. We did not have a product to send to editors in advance, so we had to rely on scheduled activities at CES. We wanted to highlight Lucy’s superior features, such as improved, more efficient navigation and the surveillance camera feature.
The Results
The campaign results surpassed both metrics, including media coverage in Tier 1 publications such as:
By the end of CES, UPRAISE had secured 27 original articles in top tier, consumer tech, robotics, lifestyle media and more … This against the KPI of 10-12 articles.
We had also doubled Trifo’s social media following, as compared to the metric of increasing the following by 50 percent.
CEO, Trifo
